Prismatic materials that capture and reflect light in different directions are known to convey the appearance of depth or three-dimensions on a flat surface. Prismatic materials are useful for a wide variety of applications such as decorative films, wrapping paper, packaging, and containers.
One example of a prismatic material is a Fresnel lens, which can be created in a film layer, and the resulting film metallized or backed by light reflecting material. Such materials can produce an image of a ball or globe appearing to have three-dimensions. Prismatic material of this type is available as a repeating Fresnel lens pattern film laminate under the trademark Multi-Lens™ by Coburn Corporation, Lakewood, N.J. A tissue carton utilizing this material is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. D459,221 entitled Tissue Carton Having Prismatic Sidewalls issued to Springer et al. on Jun. 25, 2002, and herein incorporated by reference in a consistent manner.
Another example of a prismatic material is a star-shaped Fresnel lens produced by cutting a conventional Fresnel lens into multiple pieces and then rearranging the pieces to create a star. The star-shaped Fresnel lens can be created in a film layer and metallized by suitable methods to produce a film having the appearance of three-dimensional stars. The material, containers using the material, and a method of producing the material is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/172,758 entitled Multilens Star Box and Method for Making Same filed by Gerald Keberlein on Jun. 14, 2002, and herein incorporated by reference in a consistent manner.
The previous uses of metallized Fresnel lens films in making cartons and containers relied on the unique look of the metallized Fresnel lens film when applied to the packaging. In particular, the Fresnel lens's optical properties were not exploited in conjunction with printing of the lens containing film or substrates to further the three-dimensional effect on the viewer. Previous printing of films having Fresnel lenses was done without registering the printed indicia to the position of the Fresnel lens within the film. In addition, the printing was opaque such that any portion of a Fresnel lens that happened to be printed upon was intentionally obscured by the printing process.